Episode 206 is all about Zuniceratops, a ceratopsian that was discovered in New Mexico by an 8 year-old.

We also interview Jingmai O’Connor, professor at the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences who recently described the first ever fossilized dinosaur lung remains

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Ugrunaaluk was smaller than its massive cousins like Edmontosaurus, possibly because of dwarfism from living in the arctic reaching about 18-19ft long

A new ceratopsian was found in Grand staircase Escalante National Monument

The dinosaur of the day: Zuniceratops

Zuniceratops (request from Dinosaur4602, via youtube)

Phonetic: Zoo-nee-ceh-ra-tops.

Ceratopsian that lived in the Late Cretaceous in what is now New Mexico, U.S. (in the Moreno Hill Formation)

Intermediate sized for a ceratopsian

About 9.8-11.5 ft (3-3.5 m) long

Weighed about 200-250 lb (100-150 kg)

Had a long, low snout

Had large brow horns, similar to chasmosaurs and primitive centrosaurs (slightly recurved)

Horns probably grew with age

First known ceratopsian to have brow horns

Did not have a nose horn

Had a thin, broad frill, with a pair of large holes that were covered with skin (made the frill larger than if it was solid)

Frill probably used for display (holes were not good for defense)

Shows the evolution of early ceratopsians and the later ceratopsids that had large horns and frills

At first, Zuniceratops was thought to have a strange squamosal, but a later study found that squamosal was actually an ischium of another dinosaur, the therizinosaur theropod Nothronychus (scientists found a bonebed and were able to determine what type of fossil it was)

First Zuniceratops found had single-rooted teeth, which was unusual for ceratopsians

But later finds had double-rooted teeth, which shows that teeth became double rooted when Zuniceratops aged

Found in 1996 by 8-year-old Christopher James Wolfe (son of Douglas Wolfe, a paleontologist)

Found one skull and fossils from a few individuals

Described in 1998 by Douglas Wolfe and James Kirkland

Type species is Zuniceratops christopheri

Name means “Zuni-horned face”

Zuni is in honor of the Zuni people, who lived in the region where Zuniceratops was found

Species name refers to Christopher James Wolfe

Oldest species found in North America, which helps show they evolved in North America, instead of Asia

Lived about 89-93 million years ago

Herbivore

Possibly lived in herds

Possible Zuniceratops track found in New Mexico. Researchers found 13 foot prints of small, medium, and large tyrannosaurs. The tracks are parallel, which may indicate a “family group, moving in concert,” according to Douglas Wolfe. The tracks start in a straight line and then change direction and veer off. Wolfe’s wife, Hazel, saw a round footprint where the tyrannosaur tracks swerve, and there are small piles of sediment that may indicate the animal with the round footprint kicked up some sand when it ran away. It’s possible the round footprint belongs to Zuniceratops. This track site may show tyrannosaurs hunted together, though would need more data to know for sure

Other dinosaurs found in the same area include an unnamed hadrosaur, a dromaeosaurid, and a therizinosaur

Can see Zuniceratops at the Arizona Museum of Natural History in Mesa

Can see on Discovery Channel’s When Dinosaurs Roamed America, aired in 2001

Fun Fact:

During the late cretaceous the average temperature in Utqiagvik, Alaska was ~37-47F (3–8C) today it averages just 10F (-12C). However, Juneau was about the same temperature as it is today 42F (6C). So dinosaurs found in different parts of Alaska would have had different climates and adaptations.

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Five of those species (all but Omeisaurus maoianus) were named after the locations where they were found

Type species is Omeisaurus junghsiensis

Lots of fossils found, so may have been the most common sauropod in the Late Jurassic in China

About 66 ft (20.2 m) long and weighed 9.8 tons

The smallest species was Omeisaurus fuxiensis, at around 35 ft (11 m) long

Had a rounded body, which gave it a small surface area compared to its volume (which would help it stay warm, by reducing heat loss)

Had nostrils that faced forward

Had a long neck helped it eat foliage, could probably eat one ton of plants a day

Omeisaurus tianfuensis had one of the longest sauropod necks (30 ft, or 9.1 m). Mamenchisaurus has a longer neck

Mamenchisaurusis thought to have replaced Omeisaurus

Scientists used to think Omeisaurus was part of the Mamenchisauridae family, now it’s thought to be part of Euhelopodidae

Scientists used to think Omeisaurus had a club tail, based on the club tail fossil being found near Omeisaurus fossils, (which made it hard to figure out which family Omeisaurus belonged in), but now it’s thought to not have a club tail, because a club tail would be too heavy and throw Omeisaurus off balance

Other dinosaurs that lived at the same time and place as Omeisaurus included the sauropods Abrosaurus, Dashanpusaurus, Shunosaurus, also the stegosaur Huayangosaurus, the ornithischian Agilisaurus, and predators such as Chuandongocoelurus, Kaijiangosaurus, Gasosaurus, Leshansaurus, Xuanhanosaurus, Yangchuanosaurus

Yangchuanosaurus were big enough to be a threat to Omeisaurus

Can see Omeisaurus at the Zigong Dinosaur Museum in Zigong, China, and at the Beipei Museum, near Chongqing, in China

Euhelopodidae is a family of sauropod dinosaurs, named by Alfred Sherwood Romer in 1956

Dinosaurs in this family include Euhelopus, Chiayusaurus, Omeisaurus, Tienshanosaurus

Fun fact: Some momma birds can feed their chicks without stomach acid because they have a special pouch in their esophagus called the “crop.” Dinosaurs may have also used a crop in a similar way, although it is hard to tell since soft tissue rarely fossilizes.